CCPI-STEM (https://www.ccpi-stem.org) has selected six community college educators for its fellowship program.
The fellowship program is a facet of the Community College Presidents’ Initiative in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (CCPI-STEM), which aims to strengthen community college faculty and administrators and nurture their leadership skills in order to grow and diversify the STEM technician workforce. All the individuals in this first cohort of CCPI-STEM Fellows are pursuing graduate degrees and conducting research related to STEM education and workforce development at community colleges.
The Fellows are
- Bethany Sansing-Helton, lead equity fellow, instructor, and co-chair of the Math Department at Madison Area Technical College (Wisconsin);
- Buffy Quinn, assistant dean of Natural and Applied Sciences at Onondaga Community College (New York);
- DeDe Griffith, vice president for Workforce Development at Temple College (Texas);
- Emily Halvorson-Otts, dean of Sciences at Pima Community College (Arizona);
- Eugene Mahmoud, professor of Physics and Engineering at Mount San Antonio College (California); and
- Michael Silva, professor of Biotechnology and Biological Sciences at Solano Community College (California).
The CCPI-STEM Fellows program is funded by an Advanced Technological Education grant from the National Science Foundation and provides an honorarium of $5,000 annually for two years to each of the selected individuals. Support in the second year is contingent on Fellows making satisfactory progress during the first year.
In addition to their graduate studies and research, the Fellows are expected to participate in professional development and mentoring activities that enhance their STEM leadership skills.
The CCPI-STEM Fellows program is open to individuals who are pursuing or beginning to pursue graduate degrees and conducting research related to STEM education and workforce development in community colleges. In 2022 CCPI-STEM received 29 applications. Eight finalists were interviewed.
The criteria used to evaluate the applicants considered educational background, STEM-related experience, leadership potential, STEM leadership potential, STEM community engagement, prior research experience, and the focus of their proposed research.
The next deadline for fellowship applications is September 15, 2023. For more information contact Dr. Ashok Agrawal at Ashok@AgrawalAdvisory.com.
Brief biographies for the CCPI-STEM Fellows and more detailed information about the fellowship program and CCPI-STEM are at https://www.ccpi-stem.org